2010 seems to be the year of the resurgence of Nu-Metal. With bands such as Limp Bizkit, Taproot, Ill Nino, Sevendust and Deftones have all releasing albums this year I feel magically transported back to the days of high school, Ozzfest, Family Values Tour and spiky hair and track jackets. I have to admit I was definitely into the nu-metal scene back in the day, but have definitely moved past that since the early 2000’s. The only band that has continually held my interest and a band that I never been ashamed to say I love is the Deftones. As their new album “Diamond Eyes” released I noticed that a lot of you all felt the same, which got me wondering, “Why are the Deftones Still Cool?”.

With terrible bands and trends in the nu-metal movement, most notably Limp Bizkit, most people look back on the nu-metal genre and it’s bands with a sour taste and laughable memory. Deftones although has bridged that gap and remained relevant throughout they years, how have they done it?

–The Deftones have always been a band that has followed their own path. They have enjoyed success and even a few radio hits, but have never really been a band that clamored for the spotlight or forced a “radio ready rock single” for the masses.

–They have never really changed their image and jumped on trends. When bands such as Korn were rocking track suits, countless bands such as Mudvayne, Motograter, Mushroomhead, Slipknot and Limp Bizkit rocking face paint and stage costumes, the Deftones simply kept it real, wore what they wanted and didn’t concentrate on anything other than creating some great music.

–Chino. For me Chino has one of the “best-worst voices” in the game. Honestly one of my favorite recorded voices and even one of my favorite performers live, but let’s face it, the guy lacks the live vocal game “most of the time” and I think everyone knows and has come to accept that. With that being said, the man is a rock icon and has put on some of the best performances I have seen live. If you play 2 seconds of his vocals to anyone that listens to rock/metal music and he is instantly recognizable. But what I think most people love about Chino is the fact that he is a front man that doesn’t need to be flashy or try and demand your attention. He simply gets up there rocks as hard as he can lives his music, there is no BS, period.

–They LOVE and care for their music. The Deftones are also a band that has always taken special care of writing the best songs and albums they possibly can. I have read countless articles about how many times they have written, re-written, scrapped and reworked songs until they absolutely believed that they had written the best song possible. As I mentioned earlier they have had a few radio hits such as “Change”, but they have really never had that hit song that brought them into full on mainstream or TRL success while the rest of their peers Limp Bizkit, P.O.D. and Korn became absolute household names. I really feel that this kept the hardcore Deftones fans happy because we could still feel that the Deftones were safe from the grips of teeny boppers and still a relatively “underground” band.

Overall, I just think people still respect what the Deftones do for the reasons stated above as well as I am sure many others. Having been jamming on “Diamond Eyes” for the past couple weeks I can safely say the “Tones” still have it. If you havent picked up the album yet, I highly recommend it. While many bands have come and gone, falling to both trends and fads the Deftones have remained honest and for that the Deftones will always remain cool in my book.

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